The Healing Power Of A Simple Smile | Reduce Stress Immediately

The body interprets stress only one way...fight or flight. This response pumps adrenaline into the body moving blood away from the organs and into the limbs. If you're facing immediate physical danger, this is an appropriate response that can save your life.

If you are experiencing mental stress, however, where the mind is chronically concerned, anxious or worried about paying bills or an unhappy relationship, the body's response of fight or flight can end up being harmful. Constant dumping of adrenaline into the body over a long period of time leads to chronic inflammation, the condition that is now considered the number one factor leading to certain aging diseases such as obesity, diabetes, autoimmune diseases, heart disease, hypertension, and strokes. It also leads to an impaired immune system, allergies and the breakdown in the body's ability to discern allies and helpers (the body begins to view everything as a threat).

There is a very simple technique that can be used that has immediate positive health results for the body. It's called the Inner Smile. This is a smile that is created by very slightly raising the corners of your lips while adopting the inner stance of a smile.

Try it, First smile big, lifting the corners of your mouth way up. Feel the corresponding shift inside of you with this smile. Now just slightly smile and put more emphasis on the shift inside of you.

One of the biggest proponents of the Inner Smile is Thich Naht Hanh. He is a Vietnamese, Zen Buddhist Monk who teaches inner transformation, including meditation techniques, to people all over the world. In the picture of him above, he radiates peace with his smile.

This Inner Smile can be maintained throughout the day without much effort from your facial muscles. It creates, however, dramatic results within the body:

:-) It tells the body that everything is okay and to turn off the pumping of adrenaline into the body, immediately.

:-) It lowers your blood pressure, immediately.

:-) It boosts your immune system, immediately.

:-) It releases endorphins, natural pain killers and serotonin, immediately.

:-) It creates a positive mind, immediately. This lessens the stress of problems, increases the ability to solve problems and extends lifespan. It also lessens the effects of negative information that we are constantly bombarded with, such as the Daily News. (Try a simple experiment: Reread the first module about symptoms of stress while frowning. Then read it again while practicing the Inner Smile. Notice the difference in your response to the information.)

:-) It lifts the moods of those around you causing people to treat you with joy and happiness.

:-) One interesting research on the benefits of smiling, discovered it has the same effect as eating 2000 chocolate bars. (Now that's got to be good for you!)

The Inner Smile can be used prior to meditation, as it has created a higher vibration throughout the body, prepping it for a quieter mind. This would be an introspective stance of the Inner Smile.

It can also be used more extrovertly, developing into full body/belly laughing.

All three options: Inner Smile, Meditation and Laughter are extremely healthy for the body.